CHAP. Opposite to Rachmanie there is a small island,

II.

Descrip

Country.

in the middle of the river. A large vessel with three masts was stationed near the town. The Nile is here very broad, and the current was at this time prodigiously rapid; yet the strength of the Etesian wind enabled us to stem its force, and to proceed with very great velocity. Villages, in an almost uninterrupted succession, tion of the denoted a much greater population than we had imagined this country to contain. Upon each side of the river, as far as the eye could reach, we saw rich fields of corn and rice, with such beautiful groves, seeming to rise out of the watery plains, and to shade innumerable settlements in the Delta, amidst never-ending plantations of melons and all kinds of garden vegetables, that, from the abundance of its harvests, Egypt may be deemed the richest country in the world. Such is the picture exhibited to the native inhabitants, who are seasoned to withstand the disorders of the country, and can bear with indifference the attacks of myriads of all sorts of noxious animals; to whom mud and mosquitoes, or dust and vermin, are alike indifferent; who, having never experienced one comfortable feeling in the midst of their highest enjoyments, nor a single antidote to sorrow in the depths of their wretchedness, vegetate, like

II.

the bananas and sycamores around them. But CHAP. strangers, and especially the inhabitants of Northern countries, where wholesome air and cleanliness are among the necessaries of life, must consider Egypt as the most detestable region upon earth. Upon the retiring of the Nile, the country is one vast swamp. The atmosphere, impregnated with every putrid and offensive exhalation, then stagnates, like the filthy pools over which it broods. Then, too, Diseases. the plague regularly begins; nor ceases, until the waters return again'. Throughout the spring, intermitting fevers universally prevail. About the beginning of May, certain winds cover even the sands of the desert with the most disgusting vermin'. The latest descendants of Pharaoh are not yet delivered from the evils which fell upon the land, when it was smitten by the hands of Moses and Aaron: the "plague

(1) General Le Grange assured us, when on board the Braakel, that the ravages in the French army, caused by the plague, during the month of April, at one time amounted to an hundred men in a single day.

(2) Sir Sidney Smith informed the author, that one night, preferring a bed upon the sand of the desert to a night's lodging in the village of Etko, as thinking he should be more secure from vermin, he found himself, in the morning, entirely covered by them. Lice and scorpions abound in all the sandy desert near Alexandria.

II.

CHAP. of frogs," the " plague of lice," the "plague of flies," the "murrain, boils, and blains," prevail, so that the whole country is "corrupted," and "THE DUST OF THE EARTH BECOMES LICE, UPON MAN AND UPON BEAST, THROUGHOUT THE

LAND OF EGYPT." This application of the words
of Sacred Scripture affords a literal statement
of existing evils; such an one as the statistics
of the country do now warrant. In its justifi-
cation, an appeal may be made to the testimony
of all those who have resided in the country
during the very opposite seasons of its prospe-
rity and privation: during the inundation, and
when the flood has retired; or before it takes
place, in the beginning of the year. At the
period of the overflow, persons who drink the
water become subject to
subject to a disorder called

66

prickly heat:" this often terminates in those dreadful wounds alluded to in the Sacred Writings, by the words "BOILS AND BLAINS." During the months of June, July, and August, many individuals are deprived of sight, owing to a disorder of the eyes peculiar to this country. Europeans, having no other name for it, have called it Ophthalmia, from the organs it afflicts. There was hardly an individual who did not suffer, more or less, the consequences of this painful malady. It commences with a

11.

Facility of

Upper

sensation as if grains of sand had been cast into CHAP. the eyes'. At this season, also, the dysentery begins to number its victims; and although some be fortunate enough to escape the worst effects of this disorder, it proves fatal in many instances. A traveller may escape most of these evils by proper attention: and if he visit the country so as to profit by the Etesian winds at the time of the inundation, and hire a djerm visiting for his constant residence upon the river, he Egypt. may venture into Upper Egypt, and visit its stupendous remains of antiquity with greater ease and comfort than he ever performed any other expedition. The never-failing monsoon will carry him along, sitting in a cool and comfortable cabin, with every convenience for reading or writing, for food, or rest; and the current of the river alone will operate as favourably for We considered the time we spent

his return.

(1) It is said even ýet to exist in this country, as a contagious disorder brought by our army from Egypt.

(2) The best remedies for this terrible complaint are, first a swathing of flannel, in many folds, about the abdomen; and, secondly, a drink of water, in which rice has been boiled, carefully strained from the grains of rice, which should not be eaten. The very worst effects may be apprehended from brandy, or any of those heating cordials usually administered, by ignorant people, upon these occasions. Ricewater and abstemious diet are the remedies resorted to by the Arabs themselves.

II.

CHAP. upon the Nile as the most pleasing part of all our travels; but that which was passed during our residence on shore, as the most disagreeable; notwithstanding the commodious accommodations we met with, in the cities of Rosetta, Cairo, and Alexandria.

Koum
Scheriff.

After passing Rachmanie, darkness deprived us of the interesting landscape with which we had been continually gratified during the day. We continued sailing almost the whole night, under the care and guidance of our steady pilot at the helm, who, as master of the djerm, remained at his post until morning dawned. Four men, besides himself, constituted the whole of the crew; all of whom were Arabs. During the time they remained in our service, they were diligent, industrious, faithful, always sober, obliging, and very skilful in managing their vessel. When daylight appeared, upon Saturday, August the eleventh, they told us they had anchored for some time at a village, fearful of being boarded by pirates during the extreme darkness that prevailed, especially as the light in our cabin rendered the djerm visible from the sides of the river. About eight o'clock A. M. we reached a miserable town, called Koum or Komme Scheriff, built entirely with mud. Soon